"When the management of migrants is discussed, people seem unaware of the fact that the burden of everything concerning migration flows, especially irregular ones, falls on police forces that are on the frontlines of first hosting, relocations, transportation and repatriations," the secretary general of police union COISP, Domenico Pianese, said on Monday (October 16).

Pianese was speaking at a meeting on 'Migrations: confronting challenges and welcoming opportunities" promoted by COISP and INMP, the National institute for the promotion of health and migrant populations.

Often police forces need to manage "explosive and violent situations" in hotspots, "including brawls between migrants" during working shifts that "can last 14-16 hours, without any type of preventive care against infectious diseases," the union's secretary general went on to say.

Different issues that must be confronted

Bureaucracy and issues connected to rising crime rates need to be dealt with by police forces, continued Pianese.

"After fleeing centres of first hosting, migrants often arrive in large cities where they carry out thefts or robberies to survive; or they are recruited by large criminal organizations, becoming drug smugglers in most cases," he explained.

Pianese went on to highlight that another problem "is connected to unaccompanied minors who, exhausted after fleeing and living by their wits, seek assistance, food and aid in police precincts, remaining there for days while waiting to be housed in municipal hosting centres."

Union leader calls for more personnel

In order to confront these issues in the short term, "at least until it will be possible to invest more in humanitarian corridors and legal immigration, thus cracking down on human traffickers, it is necessary to increase police personnel to manage migration flows in an orderly manner, without overlooking the control of the territory and the management of public order within the country," he concluded.